Former In-House Atty May Take Whistleblower Claim To Trial

By Emily Sawicki

An Illinois state appellate panel has revived a whistleblower claim a medical device company's former in-house counsel lodged alleging he was fired for refusing to "hide or park" money in the intellectual property division's budget, while upholding the company's early win on other claims.

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Jason Isbell Says Suno Exploits Identities Like 'The Borg'

By Rae Ann Varona

Grammy winner Jason Isbell and several other musicians have lodged a proposed class action in Massachusetts federal court against Suno Inc., accusing the AI music generator company of extracting and exploiting musicians' identifying attributes much like a collective of identity-erasing cybernetic aliens from the Star Trek franchise.

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Teachers Union Wants In On CDL Data Fight

By Katherine Smith

The American Federation of Teachers is seeking to enter a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's bid to obtain a database containing information on 17 million commercial driver's license holders, telling a Virginia federal court Tuesday that the 24 states bringing the suit don't adequately represent the interests of the union.

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PepsiCo Sued Over 'Made With Avocado Oil' Chip Claims

By Gina Kim

PepsiCo misleads customers into believing its Tostitos and Siete chips exclusively contain avocado oil, alleges a proposed class action filed Monday in New York federal court, referencing a recent UC Davis study that revealed the chips exhibited chemical profiles consistent with dilution of other oils.

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Utz Sued Over Alleged Avocado Oil Chip Labeling Deception

By Celeste Bott

A putative class action filed Monday in Illinois federal court accuses Utz Brands of falsely marketing Boulder Canyon chips as cooked solely in avocado oil when scientific testing allegedly found the products contained other, cheaper vegetable oils.

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Brief

Barnes & Thornburg Says Ex-NBA Star Owes $1M Legal Fees

By Jonathan Capriel

Former NBA player Luol Deng is being sued for more than $1 million by a Chicago-based law firm that claims he failed to pay legal fees connected to two real estate matters, according to a suit filed in Illinois state court.

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Brief

HP Beats Printer Customers' Ink Cartridge Antitrust Fight

By Lauraann Wood

HP Inc. customers seeking to hold the printer-maker liable for preventing them from using third-party ink cartridges in their machines have still not pled consumer fraud or antitrust claims viable enough to proceed, an Illinois federal judge said Tuesday.

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Brief

Instant Brands Judge Stops Delaware Suit Against Trustee

By Alex Wittenberg

A Texas bankruptcy judge on Tuesday told former Instant Brands owner Cornell Capital it must get his permission before suing the Instant Pot maker's litigation trustee, blocking a suit Cornell brought in Delaware Chancery Court in July.

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7th Circ. Backs Removal Order Over Neglect Conviction

By Britain Eakin

The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday refused to halt a Mexican women's removal order, ruling that her 2012 Wisconsin state misdemeanor conviction for neglecting a child is a deportable offense that makes her ineligible for cancellation of removal.

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Ares, Scion Buy Student Housing Portfolio For $435M

By Nate Beck

Student housing owner The Scion Group and an Ares Management affiliate on Tuesday announced an acquisition of a 2,316-bed student housing portfolio from developer and owner Schenk for $435 million.

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How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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HSF Kramer Added To $1B King & Spalding Malpractice Suit

By Jack Karp

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP and several of its partners on Tuesday were added to a $1 billion legal malpractice suit against King & Spalding LLP alleging that the firms engaged in multiple schemes to enrich a lawyer's friend at the expense of investment firm White Oak Advisors.

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Fla. Bar Tosses Complaint Over DHS GC's 'Worst' Judge Posts

By Adrian Cruz

The Florida Bar has refused to investigate the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for potential ethics violations over his recent series of social media posts attacking sitting judges, citing a potential conflict with the authority of the federal government.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Rodriguez On The Uses Of AI

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

Today, Judge Xavier Rodriguez is known as an expert in electronic discovery and a proponent of artificial intelligence, but his interest was piqued before he joined the bench of the Western District of Texas in 2003, when he was still a lawyer and the methods for sifting through electronically stored information were still primitive.

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Judges Say Social Media, Political Rhetoric Endanger Them

By Adrian Cruz

Increased access to social media and personal data via the internet, a larger number of high-profile cases, and inflammatory comments made by politicians have led to a rise in violent threats against judges and concerns about their safety, according to a recently published report.

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5th Circ. Judge Hints Court Order With AI Errors Can't Stand

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit judge wanted to know why a panel should keep intact a court order blocking an anti-DEI Mississippi law that contained artificial intelligence hallucinations, asking whether the judges could confidently find that made-up citations did not ultimately sway the district court's decision.

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Ex-Warriors GC, DEI Exec Say Bias Complaints Led To Firings

By Lauren Berg

The Golden State Warriors' former associate general counsel and its former vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion allege they were unlawfully fired in retaliation for speaking up about enduring a workplace marked by gender and race-based discrimination.

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NY Firm, Clinics Reject FedEx's 'Staged' Crashes Claims

By Linda Chiem

A New York personal injury firm and various healthcare providers have told a Manhattan federal judge that FedEx has asserted implausible claims alleging they orchestrated an insurance fraud scheme to fabricate medical records and inflate accident claims, saying there is no such racketeering enterprise.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Bryan Koenig

Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery pressured state attorneys general challenging their merger to settle, the Federal Trade Commission successfully challenged a construction adhesives tie-up, state officials waded in against the NextEra-Dominion transaction, and Union Pacific Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. defended their combination under review by federal regulators.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of August

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Anthropic, Zillow and ConocoPhillips. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from August.

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